I recall that the duties of Duty Sergeants have been covered before, but I would like to dig a little deeper in hope that someone might be able to answer this particular question.
I am researching a sergeant of the 50th Foot who was noted in a letter from his wife as being in the light company. However, Major Napier refers to him by name in his memoir of the battle of Corunna, stating that he was Duty Sgt on that day and mentions him carrying 'his pike'.
A light company sgt would have carried a musket when in action, but does anyone know if a duty sergeant would have carried a pike as a sign of office, irrespective of that man's parent company?
In hope.
Unfortunately the images that I have are partial and often unclear, so while a good idea it isn't one that I can pursue just now. I need to get up to Kew again to take a proper look, but it's such a hassle at the moment, for obvious reasons.
Thanks for giving this some thought.
Macarthy's account of Almaraz says 'pike' as well. But I think both his and Patterson's accounts were written 20 years after the wars so both may be wrong on many levels. It's shame that the muster books don't make it clearer which company was which. Do your images of the muster books include the receipts signed by the captains? If so and you know the who commanded the light company then you could match name and number. Paterson mentions Captains Sandys and Grant at different times leading the light bobs at different times.
Hello Rob, thanks for your input. The inspection return sounds interesting.
I'm beginning to think that someone's memory has played tricks for a few things don't add up. In Patterson's memoir of the storming of Almaraz (as you will know) he mentions a Sgt Checker of the 50th light company killing the French governor with 'his halberd' (which he should not by rights, if in the light company, be using). A quick check of the musters for June 1810 shows that Checker was, at that date at least, in company no. 8. There can only be one light company so was it no. 1, no. 8 or something else?
Your inspection return appears to prove that light company sergeants of the 50th were not using pikes (most unlikely anyway), so were neither Keene nor Checker actually in the light company? On balance I'm beginning to think that that they were not.
Memory is a strange thing.....
Light company sergeants would normally carry a fusil rather than a musket. It was smaller and lighter than a proper Brown Bess, but I've never found any details. I've got a copy of an inspection return from 1811 for the 50th and they had 7 fusils and 41 pikes (they had 55 sergeants but 10 had been invalided). It could be that Napier is just misremembering? Or as you say it was some kind of sign of office. Or perhaps a pike, like a pace stick, had uses for measuring or ensuring men were dressed correctly.
Thanks for the idea David, but it is, I fear, a question that I am unequipped to answer (oh there are so many of those!)
Napier makes no mention of the colour party, only his duty sergeant, so I deduce that the two roles are different.
Could it be that the fellow's wife was wrong about his company? The musters show him in company no. 1 from at least 1809-17, which one might have previously considered to be the grenadier company. However, Gareth Glover has convincingly divorced the number of the company in the muster from the company position in the line, so, implicity, company no. 1 could indeed be the light company.
As always, there are more questions than answers, and, certainly in my case, the more I find out, the less I know.....
Is there a connection perhaps between the duty sergeants and those selected to serve as the colour party? Could the pike be a more practical tool for that role? Just a thought